A Delve into Shadows
by siriusfreddobbylupin
Summary: In this story, nearly a hundred years have passed since Harry Potter defeated Voldemort. Shortly after the war, Harry was forced to break the Elder Wand into several pieces and hide them around the globe. Three adventurous siblings go in search of the pieces. Rated T because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own the Harry Potter series. It belongs to the brilliant J.K. Rowling. **

Chapter One:

The mother sat in the invitingly-worn rocking chair, surrounded by her three eager children who were hanging on to her every word. She told a story almost as famous as the tales written by Beedle the Bard. It was the story that began with the legacy of the famous historical hero Harry Potter and the momentous Battle of Hogwarts.

"The Battle had ended, and while nearly everyone was inside the Great Hall mourning over the losses and trying to save the injured, Harry Potter stood in the headmaster's office along with his two loyal friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

"The portraits of all the past headmasters of Hogwarts were applauding Harry's courageous and awe-inspiring defeat of the greatest villain ever known to Wizard kind: Lord Voldemort."

The children hissed at the name of the cowardly criminal, and the eldest boy muttered darkly, "That snake's lucky that he never met me. I'd have shown him that death should've been the least of his fears."

The mother looked at him, amused. "I know you would have, Vince. May I continue?" The boy nodded vigorously, settling down on the floor once more. "Alright. When the clapping subsided, the hero turned to face the newest addition to wall. 'Professor Dumbledore,' he began, 'I lost the gift you left for me in the Snitch. I dropped it somewhere in the woods, and I think it best that it remain there.' The man in the portrait nodded his approval. 'Although,' Harry continued, 'I may keep the gift I received in my first year. Pass it along, and carry on the legacy.'

"'That leaves this.' Harry pulled out the fabled Elder Wand. 'I don't want it.'

"'Are you sure, Harry?' Ron asked him. 'That's the most powerful wand in existence.'

"'I'm positive,' Harry replied. He turned back to Dumbledore's portrait. 'I'm going to return it to your tomb, where it belongs.'

"Harry's old headmaster smiled down at him. 'I believe you are doing the right thing, Harry.'

"So, Harry put the wand back, but it didn't rest there. Within a year, the wand was stolen in the dead of night by the mysterious Shadow Lord. Said to be one of Voldemort's most loyal followers, the Shadow Lord was as sneaky as his master was cowardly, and just as power-hungry. He believed that the wand could save him and bring him glory and fortune.

"However, Harry Potter heard of this theft, and went searching for the one behind it."

The smallest girl spoke up, asking the question that many a wise wizard had asked before her: "But if Harry wasn't dead, wouldn't the wand be useless to anyone else?"

The mother smiled at her daughter and replied, "That's the way it was supposed to work, Hermia. But the Shadow Lord was clever, too. He realized that because Harry had given up the wand willingly, if he recovered it before Harry died, it would answer to him, just as powerful as it had been before.

"So Harry pursued the thief, traveling all over the world in search of the dangerous criminal. He eventually caught up with the Shadow Lord and stole back the wand. Seeing how dangerous the wand was, Harry broke it into five pieces. These pieces he hid in secret places all over the world. To this day, only the whereabouts of one piece are known. This piece resides at-"

"Hogwarts!" the children finished.

"But no one has found it yet," Vince continued.

"It is said to be hidden with a clue to the next piece," added Caspia, the middle child, her eyes alight with pure excitement.

Hermia spoke up to finish the tale. "And only the one who is worthy will be able to recover all the pieces. Until that person arrives, the wand will lie in pieces, a once great weapon now worthless." She ended the tale with a yawn.

The mother rose from the chair saying, "It's time to go to bed now. It's late, and you are all exhausted."

The three children reluctantly followed her upstairs, each wondering the same thing: _Am I the one who is worthy?_

**Well, I hope you enjoyed! I would really appreciate it if you left a review; they mean a lot to me. Anyway, thank you for reading my story! **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Hermia sat down next to her older siblings at the Gryffindor table right after she'd been sorted there by the old, grimy hat. "So, where is it?"

Caspia looked at her, confused. "Where's what?"

"You know what. Where's the piece of the Elder Wand that's hidden here?"

Vince raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think we've been searching for it?"

"Well, I know you haven't exactly been focusing on your schoolwork according to your O.W.L. scores that came this summer."

"So? I could've been spending my time helping friends or…something." He punctuated his sentence with a bite of chicken.

"Yes, that's a really convincing argument." Hermia rolled her eyes. "Anyway, while you've been here, I've been reading up on this place, marking anywhere I think the wand might be hidden." Caspia's amused look wasn't lost on her. "Don't look at me like that. You want to find it, don't you?" Both of her siblings nodded. "I thought so. Tomorrow night, meet me in the common room. We'll start with what I have, and you two can tell me what you already checked and what won't work." A mischievous grin spread across her face. "Then we can start the real fun: searching."

•••

Hermia's first day passed pretty uneventfully. She walked into the Great Hall sleepily that morning, only to stop short and stare in awe at the enchanted ceiling and floating candles. Many other first years were doing the same thing. No one could blame them; it was a pretty amazing room, after all. Finally, Hermia sat down to eat breakfast and looked at her schedule. Her first class was Transfiguration.

Transfiguration was dull, just normal first day things: rules, class objectives, et cetera. Many of the classes passed in the same way. Hermia didn't even remember History of Magic; she was asleep for most of it. Only Charms stood out in any way.

Hermia entered Charms after lunch, eager for the class to end. She just wanted the day to hurry along so that she and her siblings could get to work. She sat down in an empty desk as she had been doing in all her classes. She took out a quill, ink, and some parchment, ready to take notes if the need to do so should arise.

The teacher stepped out from behind his desk and cleared his throat. He was about an average height with dark, messy hair and chocolate-brown eyes. He had a kind smile on his face as he welcomed the first years to Hogwarts. "I hope you have enjoyed your time here so far." When the students looked at each other uncertainly, the professor said, "Don't worry. It gets less confusing as the year goes on. Oh, and you'll get used to Binns, I promise." He grinned reassuringly at the first years as he continued. "My name is William Potter, but you can call me Professor Potter. And before anyone asks," he added, silencing the scattered whispers that had broken out across the classroom. "Yes, I am related to Harry Potter. In fact, he was my great-great-grandfather."

Hermia couldn't get the class out of her head all day. If Professor Potter was related to Harry Potter, he might know the whereabouts of the pieces, or at least some of them. He might even have one. Of course, her siblings must've already thought about that, but maybe there was a way to get him talking.

Hermia sat down at the Gryffindor table that evening, still wondering about the wand. She barely noticed when a short, wiry girl sat down next to her. After a few moments, the girl said, "Uh, hello. My name's Melissa Chapman. You can call me Mel, though. Everyone does."

"Oh, hi," Hermia replied, snapping back to reality. "I'm Hermia. Nice to meet you."

"You too," Mel replied with a friendly smile. Hermia had seen her before. She had been quickly accepted by many people, so Mel was always talking to a large group of friends, many of them from other houses. She seemed to have a talkative, out-going personality but also seemed to know when to be serious. She had long, straight brown hair and sparkling grey eyes. Her slightly high eyebrows and ever-present grin made her look as if she was constantly walking in on a surprise party. "So, are you enjoying Hogwarts so far?"

"Oh, yes, it's great. I particularly loved Binns' class. I didn't know there was nap time at Hogwarts!"

Mel laughed. "Yeah, he was really boring. I have to admit, I think Professor Girard was my favorite, but Professor Potter was a close second."

Hermia thought back to Professor Girard's class. She taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was one of the better classes by far. "Yeah, Professor Girard was one of the most exciting for sure."

Mel and Hermia talked for the rest of dinner. They started with school but quickly moved on to topics such as home, friends, and even Quidditch. "The Holyhead Harpies are my favorite," Mel had revealed. "Although, my brother likes Puddlemere United. Heaven knows why; they're doing terrible right now."

By the time the feast was over, Hermia and Mel had become fairly good friends. They walked back to the common room together where Hermia excused herself, saying she had to deliver a message to her brother from her mum. Mel went off to talk to some of her other friends, and Hermia raced in the direction of her brother.

When she got there, Vince was talking to a group of his friends about some Ravenclaw girl. "Vince! I have to talk to you!" Hermia interrupted. Vince told his friends that he'd be back, and followed his sister to a quiet corner of the room.

"What?" Vince snapped. "I thought we were talking tonight."

"We are, but I needed to ask you something. Did you notice that-?"

"If you're talking about Potter," Vince interjected, "than yes, I did realize he's related to Harry Potter. And yes, I realize that means he could know where the pieces are. I've asked him about it, but all it got me was a detention and a bad first impression."

"You got a detention for asking a question?" Hermia asked.

"Yes, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go talk to my friends. It's not my fault you don't have any." He turned around and walked back to his cluster of friends.

Hermia went up to her dorm, and changed into her pajamas. She sat down with a book and waited. She'd had very little homework, as it was the first day of classes, so the dull novel was the only thing she had to keep herself occupied until midnight when she would talk to her siblings. The evening passed uneventfully except for a row between two girls named Abigail and Tracie over the first girl's missing hairbrush. By ten o'clock, Hermia was exhausted and decided to get a couple hours of sleep before meeting her brother and sister.

•••

Two hours later, Hermia had crept downstairs and was waiting in one of the comfortable armchairs by the fire. Ten minutes later, neither of her siblings had shown up. She got up from the chair with a sigh, thinking, _I always have to be the responsible one._

Hermia slipped quietly into the fourth year girls' dormitory, just across the hall from her own. She closed the door quietly and waited beside it for her eyes to adjust. When she saw Caspia, she tip-toed over and knelt down beside her head. "Wake up," she whispered sharply.

Caspia's eyes sprung open, and she looked around, wand in hand, as if searching for an attacker. When she saw Hermia, she relaxed. "Merlin's beard, Hermia, you scared me half to death!" she said, slightly louder than was necessary.

Hermia put a finger to her lips and said softly, "It's quarter past twelve."

Caspia looked confused for a minute before she understood. "Oh, right, I was supposed to meet you in the common room! Sorry, I completely forgot."

"It's fine. Vince forgot too. Speaking of which, how are we going to wake him up?"

"What do you mean? We'll just sneak up there and drag him downstairs."

"But I saw some boy try and go up to the girls' dormitories, and the stairs turned into a slide so he couldn't get up."

"Yes, but that's only for the boys trying to get up here. Girls can go up into the boys' dormitories, but they rarely do. The professors find the girls more trustworthy than the boys."

"Well, they aren't idiots then. Come on let's go."

By the time all of her siblings were gathered, Hermia was itching to start. "Okay, first let's start with places where we think the wand might be."

Caspia spoke up first. "Well, I was thinking maybe the Room of Requirement. I've tried to get in a couple times, but if the piece is in there, it's protected from anyone trying to get at it specifically."

"There has to be a way to get at it, though," Vince reasoned. "I mean, what if Harry had needed to get at it at some point? He would have to know how to find it."

Hermia nodded thoughtfully. "That's definitely a good place to start."

Vince sighed, clearly frustrated. "If only we knew what he was like! I mean, if he liked to read, it may be in the library. If he knew Hogwarts inside and out, it could be in some little-known passageway."

Hermia nodded, smiling a bit. "You're right, Vince. So we know what we have to do."

Caspia yawned, a puzzled expression on her face. "We do?"

"Yes," Hermia replied. "We have to get to know Harry Potter."

**That's all for this chapter! Thank you all for reading! Please leave a review, even if you don't have anything good to say. Criticism is welcomed. :) Oh, and to anyone on Pottermore, congrats to Slytherin for winning the House Cup! Hope everyone is enjoying their summers.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

For the next week, Hermia, Caspia, and Vince looked for every bit of information on Harry Potter that they could get their hands on. Vince even got detention on purpose to check out all the awards and trophies, so as not to seem suspicious. They met before dinner on Friday to fill the others in on what they found.

"Apparently he was a Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, and a good one, at that," Vince reported. "There were a couple other things that didn't name a specific reason for being awarded."

Hermia scribbled the information on a piece of parchment. "So we know he liked Quidditch."

Caspia nodded and added, "Yeah, and I know that he didn't pay much mind to the rules."

Hermia and Vince looked at her. "How would you know that?"

"Oh, well, for detention once, Gibbs made me sort through the old files and get rid of anything over fifty years old. They had some things from nearly one hundred seventy-five years ago. There were a lot of detention records for Harry Potter."

Hermia frowned. "Gibbs? What does he teach?"

Vince's smile made Hermia uneasy. "Oh, he's not a teacher. He's the caretaker. He's this tall, gangly bloke who always smells like a wet dog. I think I've been in his office about fifty, maybe sixty times since I got here."

Caspia shook her head. "Gibbs hates him. He and all the caretakers before him have made a list of the worst troublemakers in the school since the days of Godric Gryffindor. Vince holds third place."

Vince smiled proudly. "It's true. Anyway, back to Harry Potter. What did you find out, Hermia?"

"Well, I went to library-"

"Naturally," Caspia interjected with a wink in Vince's direction. Hermia glared at her. "I'm sorry, carry on."

"As I was saying, I went to the library and read a couple books that had information on Potter, but there was hardly anything about what he was like. It was more about how he defeated Voldemort than anything."

Caspia sighed in frustration. "He's the most famous wizard ever, besides maybe Merlin, and there's nothing about his years at school?"

"Wait, I wasn't finished," Hermia said sharply. "I finally found a biography about him on one of the higher shelves. It tells all about his childhood and, better yet, his quest to hide the Elder wand."

"What? Why did you wait until now to tell us? Where is it? Go get it!"

Hermia put up her hands for silence. "Hold on. I've already read it. You know how the only hero stories we hear about Harry Potter are the ones that involve Voldemort?" Her siblings nodded. "Well, practically every year he was at Hogwarts, Harry did something incredible. In his first year, he saved the Philosopher's Stone from being stolen by Voldemort's puppet, and in his second year he stopped the monster in the Chamber of Secrets from attacking all the students."

"How come we've never heard any of this?" Caspia asked. "And what's the Chamber of Secrets?"

Hermia sighed. "I think we've never heard this because no one really cares about anything but how Harry stopped Voldemort. He's remembered only for his greatest achievement. As for the Chamber, Salazar Slytherin left it here with a monster inside when he left the school. He claimed that only his true heir could open the Chamber and control the beast within. It was opened once fifty years before Harry went to school and then again while he was there. Voldemort was the heir. He had opened it when he was at school and framed someone else. Then he worked through a little girl to open the Chamber during Harry's second year. He was then going to use the little girl to resurrect or something. Anyway, point is, Harry found out where the Chamber was to go in there and save the girl."

Vince nodded. "So you're thinking that he may have left it there."

"Yes," Hermia affirmed. "I think it's worth checking out."

"Well, we now have two places where the wand could very well be hidden, but how are we going to find the pieces that aren't in Hogwarts?" Caspia asked. "They could be anywhere."

Hermia thought for a moment. Finally, she sighed and said, "Well, I suppose I'll have to get on Professor Potter's good side. Maybe I'll have better luck than Vince did."

•••

"Professor?"

It was the next Monday, and Defense Against the Dark Arts had just ended. Hermia had stayed after, pretending to organize her books, hoping to get a chance to talk to Professor Potter.

"Yes, Miss Barton?" Potter replied. He was trying, yet not succeeding, in tidying up the room for the next class.

"I was just wondering if you needed some help straightening up in here. Mel and I sort of caused most of the damage." While learning a spell, Mel had managed to overturn a few desks and send bookshelves crashing to the floor. Hermia, trying to clean up a little, only managed to make things far worse by bumping into more shelves. "It's the least I can do."

Potter smiled at her and laughed. "Don't worry, someone will have outdone this by the end of the year, I guarantee it. But yes, your help would be appreciated."

Hermia set to work picking up books and returning them to the shelves. She put them in alphabetical order without really thinking about it, but Professor Potter seemed to find it interesting that she thought to do that. Hermia shrugged and replied, "I spend a lot of time in libraries, even Muggle ones."

Potter nodded, seemingly not surprised. "Well, I'm sure you have another class to get to. Thanks anyway for your help."

Hermia gathered her things and left the classroom. When she stepped out of the classroom, Mel was running up to the doorway. She was out of breath, but managed to ask, "Where have you _been_?"

"Sorry," Hermia replied. "I stayed to help clean up the classroom. We sort of trashed it."

Mel nodded. "Of course, a perfectly good explanation. Now I feel bad that I didn't stay behind. You could have told me to help!"

Hermia shrugged. "You'd already left."

"Well, whatever. Let's just get to Charms."

•••

For the next couple of weeks, Hermia did her best to gain Potter's trust without making him suspicious of her. Even harder was trying to keep her plan a secret from Mel. She always seemed to be around when Hermia was talking to their professor, and Hermia could tell that Mel was getting the idea that something was up.

One night, during a meeting with her siblings, Vince said to Hermia, "You have to keep that girl from figuring out our plan. If she realizes that you're trying to get on Potter's good side, she'll want to know why."

Hermia nodded. "I know. It's harder than it looks, especially now that she's starting to get suspicious."

Later that night, Hermia reread Harry Potter's biography for any more leads, but gained nothing from it. Her siblings were getting impatient, she knew. They wanted her to hurry up and weasel some information out of Professor Potter, but Hermia knew that he was too intelligent to give her what she needed.

Hermia ran a hand through her hair, thinking, _If it's taking us this long to even figure out where the first piece is, how are we ever going to find all the pieces? _Not for the first time that year, Hermia wondered whether or not they were in over their heads. Whether or not she was the one who is worthy.

**Hi guys, sorry that it's taken me so long to update! Life has been crazy lately, starting with vacation in July, a week full of choir rehearsals in August, and finally some flu-like thing going around in my house. Not to mention a fifty-hour service project that I have to finish. Also, sorry this chapter is so short, but I really wanted to get it up before school starts up again. Thank you for reading, and if it isn't too much trouble, would you please review? This is only my second fanfic, and my first one was a one-shot. Anyway, enjoy the last few days of summer! **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

September went by in a breeze, as well as the beginning of October. Life at Hogwarts was pretty dull for Hermia; all she did was think day and night about the pieces. Mel tried to get her to have some more fun, but Hermia insisted that she was too busy studying.

One chilly Thursday morning, Hermia decided to finally ask Professor Potter about the Elder Wand. She took a deep breath before knocking boldly on the door to his office. "Come in," came his muffled reply. Hermia opened the door and stepped inside, a serious expression on her face. Potter gave her a funny look as he asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I need to talk to you."

Understanding dawned on his face. "Oh, yes. I knew this was coming. You want to know about the wand."

Hermia froze. He knew. He'd probably known for a while now. "What gave it away?"

"Well, to start with, your brother asked about it years ago. I suspected something when you continually asked if I needed help, but I knew for sure when I saw you check out the biography on Harry Potter." He paused here to grin. "Since I've been teaching here, a handful of children asked me about the wand. Never once did one of them show as much determination as you have. I must admit, I'm rather impressed. However, I must warn you. You must know what you wish to do with the wand before you go off in search of it. If you find that your intentions are selfish, you should forget about pursuing the wand." He paused again, holding her gaze. "Come back here the same time next week to talk to me if you find yourself worthy of this task."

Hermia recognized that she was being dismissed, and said, "Thank you, professor," before turning to exit the room.

Thousands of thoughts were swimming through her head, so many that she couldn't understand any one in particular. These were jostled to a halt, however, when Hermia ran smack into Mel, who had been listening at the door. Her friend had a triumphant grin on her face. "So that's what you're doing."

Hermia sighed. "What do you want to keep quiet about all this?"

"I want in."

•••

"No. Absolutely not."

Hermia and Mel had approached Caspia and Vince at lunch, asking if Mel could help them find the Elder Wand. Vince had said no right away.

"But why not?" Hermia asked. "It's not like she's going to tell anyone. And besides, she could be helpful."

"Oh, really?" Vince asked skeptically. "How so?"

"Well," Mel began slowly, "I have something that was in the possession of Harry Potter himself." She pulled out a piece of parchment from her bag. "I present to you," she said dramatically, "the Marauder's Map."

Vince didn't look impressed. "That's just a bit of parchment. How will that help us?"

Mel laughed. "Just a bit of parchment? Tell me, Vince, what are the names of the two people who are ahead of you on the troublemakers list in Gibbs' office?"

"Fred and George Weasley."

"Right. You want to know how they got there?" Mel pointed to the map. "This right here."

An impish grin slowly spread across Vince's face. "How does it work?"

Mel took at her wand and pointed the tip of it at the parchment. "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." Instantly, images and words appeared on the map. Mel unfolded it and explained, "This shows everywhere in the castle, including the current positions of everyone in it." She pointed to the Great Hall and said, "See? There are so many people in here right now that you can barely read the names." She moved their attention toward the dungeons. "And there's Gibbs, slinking around trying to catch anyone where they're not supposed to be."

"I wonder if all the caretakers were as spooky as he is," Caspia mused.

"Anyway," Mel interrupted, "the point is, I can use this to help you figure out where the piece at Hogwarts is. If I'm not mistaken, Harry Potter would've hidden the piece somewhere that most people don't know exist."

Caspia smiled and nodded. "Sounds good to me. If Vince agrees, you're in."

Mel grinned, and they all turned to Vince. He shrugged and said, "All right, but if you mess this up, you'll have to deal with me."

•••

Hermia was in the library looking for a book on goblins for History of Magic, when she felt a pair of hands roughly push her to the ground, sending her things flying everywhere. Most unfortunate was the bottle of ink that fell and broke open, getting all throughout her dirty-blonde hair. She looked up to see who her attacker was.

A tall Slytherin boy named Acanthus Flint was standing over her, something halfway between a smirk and a sneer on his face. His oily brown hair was styled so that it fell into his dark brown eyes, probably in a failed attempt to look intimidating. He wasn't good looking by any means, but he wasn't exactly ugly either. He had his hands crossed over his chest, making his shoulders slump over, most likely not producing the effect he was aiming for. "So, Barton, the ink's a nice touch. Quite an improvement, if you ask me."

Hermia glared at him, but remained silent. She stood up and began to gather her things. However, Flint wasn't finished. "Say, why aren't you a Ravenclaw? All you do is study, you have no friends, and you don't seem to talk much either. Or maybe you don't talk because you don't know how. Gryffindor is the House of stupidity, is it not?"

Hermia bit her lip and began to walk away. She did not want to get involved in this. Acanthus Flint was the biggest bully in the first year. He picked on everyone, even his own friends. She figured if she could get in view of Madame Woods, Flint would probably leave her alone for now.

Hermia walked toward the front of the library, a constant stream of insults following her. Because Flint obviously didn't know how to talk quietly, he had already drawn the attention of the strict Madame Woods. She walked up to the two of them, glaring at Flint the entire time. "Excuse me, Mr…?"

"Flint," the Slytherin replied proudly.

"Well, Mr. Flint, I don't know who you think you are or _where_ you think you are, but I'm going to have to ask you to either be quiet or leave my library."

Acanthus looked back and forth between Hermia and Madame Woods, weighing his options. Finally, his regular, pained-looking facial expression reappeared, and he said, "Fine. I hate it here anyway." He stormed off toward the door, and Hermia knew that it wasn't going to be the end of that.

As Flint closed the door behind him, Madame Woods turned to Hermia and said, "You might want to find better company, love."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Hermia assured her. "He's not exactly what I'd call a close friend."

•••

Over the next weekend, Hermia and Mel thoroughly looked over the Marauder's Map, looking for any and every place where Harry Potter might have hidden the wand. They came up with a few passages and unused classrooms, but nothing really stuck out to them. On Saturday evening, Vince and Caspia came over to help them, each of them having found out a little more about Harry Potter.

Vince volunteered his information first. "Well, I never looked past my own name on the troublemakers list, naturally, but when I was in Gibbs' office last time, I remembered Caspia telling me about how Harry Potter got detention all the time. I checked the list, and he was number six or seven."

Caspia nodded appreciatively. "Not bad. Seems to match up with his records. Anyway, I was in the library-"

Vince and Hermia gasped. "No way!"

Caspia gave them an annoyed look. "I do read on occasion."

Vince clutched his chest and pretended to gasp for breath. "This is too much for me to take! Caspia _reading_?!"

"Okay, enough overkill, Vince," Hermia replied, swatting him on the arm. "Let her finish."

"Thank you," Caspia continued. "What I was trying to say was, when I was in the library, I checked out a book on famous witches and wizards for a History of Magic essay, and there was a section on Harry Potter. I read it to see if I could find anything useful."

"And…" Mel prompted.

"And there was an article with him talking about the Elder Wand."

The other three children sat up quickly. "What?"

"Yeah, but unfortunately, he didn't really say much about where they were hidden, just why he decided to hide them. I was thinking there might be some clues in there though, so I brought it for you two to look at." She handed the book the Hermia and Mel, who immediately began flipping pages to find the section on Harry Potter.

"Well, I have to go finish up some homework, so I'll check in with you guys later, okay?" Caspia said.

"Yeah, that's fine," Hermia replied as she came across the page with the article on it. "We'll let you know if we find anything."

Caspia left, and Vince soon followed her, claiming that he had homework to do also. The two girls knew full well that he was probably going to hang out with his friends, but they let him go anyway. They were too absorbed with the article to do anything else.

Caspia had been right about there being very little information on where the pieces were. There was only one paragraph that mentioned where Harry may have hidden the wand:

"'_I wanted to hide the pieces in obscure places,' Potter revealed. 'I also wanted them to be hard to get to; I don't want just anyone to find them. If the wrong person, seeking power, found all the pieces and put them together…well, let's just hope it never happens.'"_

Hermia and Mel looked at each other, slightly disappointed. They'd already known that. Obviously Harry wouldn't have wanted them to be easily accessible; that would just be stupid. Hermia looked over at their multitude of possible hiding places, and then realized something. "Mel, half of these don't fit that description."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look at all these vacant classrooms we have written down. Harry would never have hidden them there. How could he know which classrooms would be used in the future? And some of these passages are easy to stumble upon by accident. He wouldn't want it to be that simple. If he's smart enough to defeat the most evil wizard ever, I don't think he would've just tossed something that powerful down some passageway."

Mel smiled. "You're brilliant! Well let's start crossing these out."

By the end of the night, they had only a handful of places remaining on their list. They decided that the best way to go about eliminating the hiding places was to actually go and check them out. That night, as Hermia was falling asleep, she felt like they were finally getting somewhere.

**Well, everyone, I hoped you liked it! By the way, I have nothing against Slytherins. I actually wanted to make Acanthus a Ravenclaw, but then he couldn't make fun of Hermia for being smart. :/ Anyway, I'm really surprised that I finished this chapter before school started! I usually don't write very fast. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed! It really means a lot to me. If you find any grammar or even style mistakes, please let me know either through reviewing or PMing me because I don't have a Beta reader. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this. Oh, and since I haven't been putting a disclaimer on, and in case you haven't figured it out, I DO NOT own Harry Potter. It belongs to the brilliant J.K. Rowling. Have a good school year everyone! **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

Hermia was looking over the Marauder's Map with Mel early one morning, making sure that they hadn't skipped over any passages, when an idea dawned on her. "Mel, how many passageways aren't actually _inside_ Hogwarts?"

Mel replied casually, "Only two. But why…?" A grin spread across her face as she realized why Hermia had asked. "Brilliant!" She pointed to a corner of the Transfiguration courtyard, saying, "There's a statue there that hides a passage. I never found out where it led, though." She then pointed to a large tree entitled the Whomping Willow. "There's another passage under this tree. It's a lot harder to get into, though, because you have to press a specific knot at the base of the tree to keep it from knocking you into the Forbidden Forest. I've never tried to get in, but…" She trailed off, noting the look on Hermia's face. "What?"

"That's where it is. I'm positive. Where else could it be? It's perfect!"

Mel nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but how are we going to get it?"

Hermia was quiet for a moment before she broke into a very Vince-like grin. "Well, that's easy."

•••

As it turned out, it wasn't easy at all. The Whomping Willow was in a very inconvenient spot for one wishing not to be seen; it was visible from many windows in the castle, including both Headmaster Blair's and Professor Potter's offices. There was very little cover nearby, forcing one to be in plain sight for at least twenty metres. That's where having two older siblings came in handy.

"How good are you at Disillusionment Charms?" Hermia asked Caspia and Vince.

Caspia shrugged hesitantly. "I mean, I know _how _to do them-"

"She simply can't pull one off without a couple, er, _unfortunate _side effects," Vince finished.

"What do you mean?" asked Mel.

"Well," Vince began slowly, "I agreed to help her practice once, and ended up having purple blotches all down my arms and legs. Needless to say, I don't fancy her trying that on me again."

"Well, can you do one then?" Hermia asked, slightly frustrated.

"Yes, but I'm not sure how good it'll be."

"It's the best we've got."

Their plan was set. Hermia explained that they were going to meet in the common room at one o'clock and hopefully sneak past the Fat Lady without waking her (a rather difficult feat to pull off, considering that many, many years of guarding Gryffindor Tower had led her to become quite a light sleeper.) They would then sneak out of the castle, using as many hidden passages as possible to keep out of sight of Gibbs. When they reached the Forbidden Forest, Vince would place a Disillusionment Charm on each of them, and they'd proceed toward the Whomping Willow. Mel would press the knot of the trunk of the tree, and they were in.

"Once we're inside, look for something that could suggest something is hidden there," Hermia said. "There may be hidden doors or rooms off the passage itself."

The four of them sat in the common room, pretending to be busy and watching as the last of the students slowly disappeared to their dormitories. At last, at nearly quarter to twelve, they were left alone. Mel checked the Marauder's Map one last time before they left. Vince insisted on opening the portrait; he claimed to have done it without waking the Fat Lady many times before. Sure enough, the only thing she told them was, "Yes, yes, just place the marshmallows near the door on your way out." Mel and Caspia choked on the giggled fighting to escape their throats, very nearly waking the Fat Lady. Hermia and Vince ushered them forward before they earned all of them detention.

Getting out of the castle was surprisingly easy, but very time consuming. The route they took was abandoned as they had suspected, but because they were backtracking so much, it took them over half an hour to get outside.

"I had no idea that the castle was so big!" Mel said incredulously as they slipped into the cover of the trees.

"Nor did I," Caspia admitted, "and I've been here for four years."

Vince quickly performed the charms, and they approached the Whomping Willow at last. Once the limbs and branches were immobilized, they entered the passageway as fast as they could, fearing that the Willow would start trying to kill them again before they had all made it through. Hermia lit her wand, and the others followed suit.

They walked slowly and silently along the dark, narrow passage, looking for any sign of a place where the wand was hidden. After what seemed like hours, they emerged into a small house that looked as if someone had deliberately tried to make it appear like a warzone. Tables were overturned, chairs were splintered, and cushions had been turned inside out, the stuffing scattered about. Marks of what looked suspiciously like blood were splattered over the filthy walls. Vince grinned like a maniac when he saw this and turned to Caspia. "Do you know where we are?"

Caspia looked around in slight puzzlement before saying, "No. Where?"

"The Shrieking Shack," Vince replied. "I can't believe it! I've been trying to get in here since my first Hogsmeade trip."

Hermia and Mel looked at each other, both shrugging. Hermia then turned back to Vince and asked, "What's the Shrieking Shack?"

"Only the most haunted sight in all of England!" Vince replied as if it were an amusement park that he'd been dying to visit. "Oh, wait till I tell Kevin, he's going to be so mad he didn't get to-"

"You can't tell anyone," Hermia interrupted. "If they found out we were in here, they'd want to know why, and we can't afford for anyone else to know."

Vince sighed, "Yeah, you're right."

"Anyway," Caspia said, breaking the short silence that followed. "Shouldn't we start looking for clues?"

The four of them walked about the shack, looking at the walls so intently that they ran into one another more than once. A couple times, someone made a false alarm, but nothing proved useful in the slightest. Finally, though, just as Hermia was about to tell everyone that they should leave, an unusual marking caught her eye. At the base of one of the walls, someone had carved a symbol: a triangle with a circle inside, a line running through the center of it all. "Hey, over here! Look at this."

The others filed in around her, each looking at the strange symbol. For a minute, the three of them looked at each other in confusion before Caspia broke into a grin. "That mark was on Mum's old copy of _Tales of Beedle the Bard_, remember?"

"Right, it was inked in next to The Tale of the Three Brothers!" Hermia exclaimed. They looked at each other, grinning for a moment before Hermia's smile wavered slightly. "Well, what do we do now?"

They tried everything, it seemed. They tried tapping it in various different patterns. Each of them tried a couple of spells, only succeeding in setting fire to an unrecognizable piece of broken furniture. Mel tried "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," and Caspia went as far as to sing to it. All of it was to no avail. As the sky began to lighten, Caspia, Vince, and Mel suggested that they leave.

"Just wait a minute," Hermia said, absent-mindedly tracing the carving in thought. What hadn't they tried yet?

It happened faster than Hermia could process it. She fell backward through the wall, it seemed. The other three were screaming her name, but she could hardly hear them for the rush of air whistling in her ears. She hit the ground with a loud thud and a sharp pain in her wrist before she even had time to _think_ about screaming. She winced as she looked over at her wrist and saw it bent at an unnerving angle. She froze in shock, however, when she saw something just past the spot where she had landed.

What she saw in front of her was not what she had expected to find. About three metres in front of her stood a plain wooden table, lit by a light coming from an unidentifiable source. In the center of it was a silver bowl in which Hermia could see her own reflection. There was no dust on anything.

Caspia, Mel, and Vince joined her by jumping through the hole in the wall. They appeared just as surprised as she felt. They approached the table together, no one making a sound. There seemed to be nothing interesting about it except for a small carving on the top of the table. It depicted the bowl filled with flames.

Mel reached forward and traced it, just as Hermia had done to the one upstairs, but nothing happened. They all looked at each other for a moment before Caspia took out her wand, pointed it at the bowl, and said, "_Incendio_."

The flames immediately sprang forth and the symbol disappeared. After a few moments the flames seemed to hiss louder, and the smoke formed words:

_I cannot be seen or heard,_

_But often am I measured._

_I am often heeded,_

_But scarcely am I treasured._

_Sometimes I seem to speed along,_

_Yet at others I drag on and on._

_You complain when I go so slowly,_

_Yet how you miss me when I'm gone._

Hermia smiled. "It's a riddle. This is easy!"

The other three stared at her with slightly bemused expressions. "Well, explain then, because we don't get it," Vince said.

Hermia sighed. "It's simple, really. 'I cannot be seen or heard, but often am I measured.' Isn't it obvious?" The blank looks on their faces told her that it wasn't. "Well, how about, 'Sometimes I seem to speed along, yet at others I drag on and on'?" When none of the others gave even the slightest signs of comprehension, Hermia continued, a bit frustrated. "It's time!"

Their confused expressions deepened even further. Mel asked, "Time for what?"

"No, the answer to the riddle is time."

There was no great epiphany moment for any of them. Vince frowned and attempted to argue. "But you _can_ hear time. You know, tick tock."

"No, tick tock is made by a clock, not time," Hermia explained slowly.

"Okay, so the answer's time," Mel said before Vince could reply. "That's great and all, but how do we get the wand?"

Caspia pointed at a new mark on the table and said, "Well, why don't we follow the instructions?"

The carving showed someone pointing their wand at the bowl, and one word was carved underneath the drawing: SPEAK.

**Sorry to end this here, but it was getting too long. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It really means a lot to me. Again, sorry it took me so long to get this up, but I had severe writer's block on top of schoolwork. Not to mention more illness in my house; we thought my sister had pneumonia, but thankfully that wasn't true. She just had a sinus infection. :) Anyway, hope you're all liking school so far! Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

Hermia removed her wand from her pocket and pointed it at the silver bowl, just as the carving was instructing her to do. "The answer is time."

The effect was instantaneous. The flames shot upward in a shower of multi-colored sparks, making the children jump back. Hermia saw a small opening in the wall behind the table. When the fire shrank back into the bowl, she hurried forward, trying not to get her hopes up. Still, she knew what she would find when she arrived at the opening.

The others gathered around her as she reached into the tiny space and pulled out a piece of wood about three inches long and an old bit of parchment. The parchment read: _Consider your intentions. We shall know if they are pure. _

Hermia read the words twice, each time getting an ominous feeling when it said "we will know." It didn't seem possible, but yet…

Another thing struck her. It was nearly the same warning that Professor Potter had given her the previous week. Could he possibly know that the parchment contained the same warning?

•••

It was nearly half six by the time they were back in the common room. Their adrenaline had begun to wear off, and Hermia's wrist was hurting so badly now that she was positive that it was broken.

"What do I tell Madam Mullins, though?" she asked.

Vince shrugged. "Just tell her you fell off your bed or something. She's not nosy, she won't care."

Hermia wasn't convinced. "That's hardly believable, Vince."

"I always tell her things like that when I show up with some random injury. Honestly, as long as it's not life-threatening, she'll just patch you up and send you on your way."

Hermia started toward the hospital wing with Mel stubbornly refusing to let her go alone. No one else was in the corridors yet; they were probably still asleep. Hermia and Mel said nothing on the way to the hospital wing, each of them absorbed in her own thoughts. They got to the door and entered to find Madam Mullins bustling about making beds and straightening curtains.

She looked up when Mel cleared her throat rather loudly. Her eyes narrowed as they rested on Hermia's broken wrist. "Well, what were you up to?"

"Nothing," Hermia replied, trying maybe a little too hard to sound casual. "I fell off my bed when I had a nightmare." In the short silence that followed, Hermia internally cursed herself. The excuse sounded even more feeble and stupid when she said it aloud.

Madam Mullins nodded curtly, obviously not believing a word of Hermia's story. She gestured to a bed near the door. "Sit."

Hermia did as she was instructed. Madam Mullins pulled out her wand and muttered a spell. "Yes, just as I expected. It's broken. You got this falling out of bed, you say?"

Hermia bit her lip and nodded. _Stupid, stupid, stupid._

Madam Mullins waved her wand and immediately the pain receded. "All right, you should be fine now." As the girls started toward the door, she called after them. "By the way, you probably should have changed your robes before you came here." As Hermia and Mel looked down at their torn and dirtied robes, Madam Mullins smiled warmly at them, shaking her head. "Just don't sneak out anymore. Most first years do at least once, but it'll just get you in trouble."

When they got back to their now empty dormitory, Hermia shook her head and said, "I can't _believe_ how stupid I am! Why didn't I realise that she'd notice our robes?"

Mel flopped down on her bed, obviously not bothered by their small oversight. "It doesn't matter, Hermia. She just thought we were being mischievous little first years." She grinned, then added, "Which isn't exactly wrong."

"That's not the point, Mel. If we're going to find all the pieces, we can't be this sloppy. Someone will figure out what we're doing, and then there will be no way that we'll ever get the wand."

Mel shrugged. "So? We're just in this for the adventure, aren't we?"

Hermia didn't reply as she changed into fresh robes. _Why was she in on this?_

Mel's constant bubbly chatter indicated that she didn't seem to notice Hermia's pensive attitude as they walked down to grab a quick breakfast. They each managed to scarf down a piece of toast before they had to rush off to their first class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

By the time they reached the classroom and Professor Girard told them to take their seats, Hermia's adrenaline had completely worn off, and she was feeling the effects of a sleepless night. Even though Professor Girard was an amazing teacher and her classes were usually Hermia's favorites, Hermia couldn't help but give in to the invisible force pulling her eyes shut.

"_Barton! Chapman! Wake up!"_

Hermia sat upright in her chair, confused at seeing herself in class for a second. Mel was still drooling on her open textbook, but she jolted awake when Hermia elbowed her in the ribs. "Wha-?" she began, but cut herself off when she saw Professor Girard standing over them. "Oh."

Professor Girard lost no time in asking questions. "Why are you so tired?"

Mel looker her in the eye and said, "We were studying."

Girard smirked and Hermia inwardly groaned. "Studying, is it?" Mel nodded. "You studied all night, and you're only in first year?" Mel nodded again, but Hermia could see her hesitation.

Hermia spoke up, saying, "Yes, we decided we'd better study now, so that hopefully we won't have too much to do at exam time."

Girard looked at Hermia, an unreadable expression on her face. "You're Caspia and Vince's sister, correct?" Hermia cocked her head slightly, then nodded. Girard paused before replying. "Well, at least one of you has some sense. Be that as it may, I still find your exhaustion suspicious. You will report to your Head of House immediately."

Hermia tried to hide her grin as she gathered her books. When she and Mel were out in the hallway, she smiled and said, "Perfect!"

Mel looked confused as she asked, "What's perfect?"

Hermia stopped and turned to her. "Our Head of House is Professor Potter."

It took a minute for the sentence to register in Mel's brain, but when it did, her face split into a grin. "Excellent! We can ask him about the wand without seeming suspicious!"

Hermia nodded, and they walked faster to Potter's office. When they arrived, they had scarcely knocked before Potter opened the door, saying, "I was expecting you two. Come in."

Hermia and Mel followed him inside. He gestured for them to sit in the two chairs in front of his desk. As they did so, Potter said, "I know you went in search of the wand last night."

Hermia and Mel glanced at each other and Mel asked, "How?"

There was a trace of a smile on his face as he replied. "Madam Mullins told me about a pair of first years who snuck out of the castle last night." At this, Hermia gave Mel a pointed look. Potter continued, fixing each of them with a searching look. "Did you find it?"

They both nodded. "It was hidden-"

"-under the Whomping Willow, I know." Professor Potter cut Hermia off with a wave of his hand. "Where are you hiding it?" Sensing their hesitation, Potter said, "Do really think I'm going to steal it from you even though I could have gotten it years ago with all the time I spend here?"

Hermia thought he made a good point. "It's hidden at the bottom of my trunk in a pair of socks."

Potter nodded his approval. "That's good- for now." He got up from his chair and began pacing behind his desk. "You'll have to find a more secure place pretty soon, and you won't be able to hide all the pieces together."

"So, we'll basically have to redo what Harry Potter did?" Mel asked.

"Yes, but only until you have all the pieces. Then you have to put them all together, which is another task entirely."

"That is, if we do find all the pieces," said Hermia. She was beginning to doubt they would. After all, it had taken them long enough to find the first piece, and they had already known the general location of it. How were they going to get the other pieces without so much as a clue?

Potter smiled at her. "You won't have to find them on your own. I will help you, of course. However," he said pointedly, "I have the right to withdraw my assistance at any time. Is that understood?" The girls nodded eagerly. "Good. Would you please relay this message to your siblings, Hermia? I'd rather not have to find an excuse to talk to them in private—however, with your brother's habit of wreaking havoc, that probably wouldn't be much of a problem." He smiled once more before saying, "You had better get going. I will let you know when I am available to talk to you."

•••

"This is excellent!" Vince exclaimed after Hermia and Mel had filled them in on what Potter had said. "He probably knows where all the pieces are right now! I mean, Harry wouldn't have made it impossible for anyone to get at the pieces, right? He had to have someone reliable to re-hide them if they had to."

Hermia nodded. "The problem is he's not going to just tell us where the pieces are. He's going to give us vague hints and clues that will take us forever to figure out."

"He probably won't help us much at all, really," Caspia mused. "He needs to make sure we can figure it out ourselves, otherwise how could he be sure that we'll be _worthy enough_ to use the wand or whatever."

The others agreed and fell silent for a while. Finally, Mel spoke up and said, "That shouldn't stop us from trying, though."

"Of course not!" replied the three Bartons together.

**Hey everybody! So sorry that it took me so long to update; I swear my teachers are trying to drown me in homework. On top of that I have choir and piano, both of which require several hours of practice outside of lessons. I also had a terrible case of writer's block. Anyway, hopefully the next chapter will be a little longer. :) Thanks for the reviews! **


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